Police and law enforcement officers show their support as students arrive Feb. 28 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., for the first time since the Feb. 14 mass shooting. The chairmen of the U.S. bishops' committees on domestic policy and Catholic education issued a joint statement March 5 calling on the nation's leaders to come up with "common-sense gun measures." CNS photo/Mary Beth Koeth, Reuters

WASHINGTON -- The chairmen of two U.S. bishops' committees said it is long past time for the nation's leaders to come up with "common-sense gun measures as part of a comprehensive approach to the reduction of violence in society and the protection of life."More ...Tuesday, March 13, 2018

LAGOS, Nigeria -- Bishop Hilary Dachelem of Bauchi has appealed to the Nigerian government and security agencies to work for the rescue of the 110 schoolgirls kidnapped by suspected Boko Haram insurgents in February.More ...Tuesday, March 13, 2018

PARKLAND, Fla. -- The massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland left all of America reeling, but at Mary Help of Christians Church and School, the pain and grief were especially palpable.More ...Thursday, February 22, 2018

MONTREAT, N.C. – The Rev. Billy Graham, a fiery Baptist preacher who was easily the most famous evangelist of the 20th century and for decades one of the world figures most admired by Americans, died early Feb. 21 at his home in Montreat, according to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. He was 99.More ...Wednesday, February 21, 2018

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- About 100 students from Parkland arrived in Tallahassee the evening of Feb. 20, highly motivated to press their state lawmakers in person to reform gun laws after the deadly shooting rampage at their high school.More ...Wednesday, February 21, 2018

PARKLAND, Fla. -- A parish community less than two miles away and directly impacted by the Feb. 14 school shooting at a Broward County high school is finding new purpose in Lent this year, according to the parish administrator.More ...Wednesday, February 21, 2018

MIAMI -- Miami Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski urged community members to come together "to support one another in this time of grief" after a shooting rampage Feb. 14 at a Broward County high school left at least 17 people dead.More ...Thursday, February 15, 2018

JERUSALEM -- The U.S. suspension of $65 million in aid to the U.N. agency that deals with Palestinian refugees alarmed advocates who work with Palestinians living in camps.More ...Saturday, February 10, 2018

WASHINGTON -- Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York decried the Senate's failure to pass the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which would have banned abortions after 20 weeks of gestation, and called on senators to "rethink" their stance on late-term abortions.More ...Saturday, February 10, 2018

WASHINGTON -- A group of priests, religious, young immigrants and their supporters gathered outside of the U.S. Capitol Feb. 6 to pray for the Dreamers, whose lives are in limbo, and for the legislators who have the power to change their situation.More ...Friday, February 9, 2018

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Senate has confirmed Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, a Catholic, to be the new U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom in the U.S. Department of State.More ...Monday, January 29, 2018

WASHINGTON – Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston called for prayers for the victims killed and injured in a pair of school shootings in Kentucky and Texas.

In a statement released Jan. 23 after the second shooting in two days, Cardinal DiNardo, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said Christians experience the pain of the family and friends of the victims "as if it were our own."

SAN FRANCISCO – A U.S. District Court judge in San Francisco temporarily blocked the Trump administration's decision Jan. 9 to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program by March.More ...Wednesday, January 10, 2018

WASHINGTON – As the Catholic Church in the United States began observing National Migration Week, a time to reflect on the circumstances confronting migrants, immigrants, refugees, and human trafficking victims, the administration of President Donald Trump announced that it would end an immigration program for thousands of Salvadorans, one of the largest groups of modern-day immigrants in the country and one that includes many Catholics.More ...Tuesday, January 9, 2018

WASHINGTON – The Federal Emergency Management Agency is revising its policies to no longer exclude houses of worship from applying for federal aid to recover from damages caused by natural disasters.More ...Friday, January 5, 2018

KINSHASA, Congo -- Congolese church leaders, including the nation's cardinal, condemned security forces' attacks on Catholic protesters that left at least eight dead and 120 people detained.More ...Thursday, January 4, 2018

Bishop Joseph C. Bambera of the Diocese of Scranton and Chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs has issued the following statement on the Dec. 29 deadly attack on a Coptic Church and nearby bookstore in Egypt.More ...Sunday, December 31, 2017

WASHINGTON -- Republican lawmakers joined President Donald Trump in cheering passage of the most significant overhaul of the federal tax system in three decades even as the chairman of the U.S. bishops' domestic policy committee called on the president to work with Congress to fix "unacceptable problems" in the law.More ...Thursday, December 21, 2017

BARQUISIMETO, Venezuela – Eleven-year-old Alejandro took two sausages from the refrigerator in his home, thinking only of his empty stomach. When his mother, a cleaning woman, returned and realized that Alejandro had eaten what was meant to be dinner for her six children, she shouted at him and beat him.

Furious and ashamed, Alejandro went into his room and locked the door. Three hours later, his mother found him dead. He had hanged himself.More ...Friday, December 15, 2017

WASHINGTON -- Saying that any reduction in funding of programs to prevent HIV and AIDS could have "catastrophic life-threatening implications," Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on International Justice and Peace, asked the Office of Management and Budget, in a letter, to maintain its full funding.More ...Thursday, December 14, 2017